Batman’s Original Batcycle

The Batpod, this is not

Oh, that Batman and his toys, those marvelous toys. Millionaire Bruce Wayne’s alter ego has always had a penchant for accessories. While normally reserved for freeing him and boy wonder from intellectually challenged villains, he has also had his fair share of tricked-out transportation over the years. While drooling over pictures of the Batpod online from the most recent film, Dark Knight, I stumbled upon the original motorcycle ridden by the caped crusaders.

The original Batcycle, a 1965 Harley Davidson with a sidecar, made its debut in1966 in the television series. Later that year, a new Batcycle was introduced as the original was leased and had to be returned.

Produced by Kustomotive using a Yamaha Catalina 250, this new Batcycle (seen in picture) was first used in the 1966 film Batman and continued to appear in the rest of the TV series until cancellation in March of 1968. Most of the stunt work done on the motorcycle (special effects and CGI didn’t quite exist back then) were done by Hubie Kerns and Victor Paul throughout the series. The bike was allegedly leased to 20th Century Fox by Kustomotive for a startling $50 a week. Oh, those were the days.

While Christian Bale had the advantage of riding the Batpod in black body armor, there is something about wearing tights and a cape that make Batman riding a motorcycle with boy wonder in the sidecar that seems less than intimidating.